Animation-based Sketching: An explorative study of how animation-based sketching can support the concept design of non-idiomatic digital technologies

Abstrakt

This thesis is based on the results of a three-year long PhD-study at the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University. The thesis consist of five original papers, a book manuscript, as well as a linking text with the thesis’ research questions, research design, and summary of contributions. In the produced work, I expand upon animation as a sketching approach to communicate, and explore interaction and user experience design concepts that are hard to grasp via traditional means of sketching. I propose that the sequential, temporal, material and narrative qualities of animation may sufficiently be considered an extended capacity of sketching. The subject matter for merging these perspectives is supporting exploration of the viability and feasibility of new user experiences with a proposed technology, before functional versions are build. A series of constructive design research experiments has been carried out, applying animation-based sketching in various contexts and at varying points in the design process. In the studies, I evaluate the viability of the approach, the practical integration into the design process, and map how consensus between stakeholders in design can be established through animation -based sketches. Thus, the scope of this project is practice-inclined, towards qualifying animation as an approach for design sketching in practice.

Detaljer

This thesis is based on the results of a three-year long PhD-study at the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University. The thesis consist of five original papers, a book manuscript, as well as a linking text with the thesis’ research questions, research design, and summary of contributions. In the produced work, I expand upon animation as a sketching approach to communicate, and explore interaction and user experience design concepts that are hard to grasp via traditional means of sketching. I propose that the sequential, temporal, material and narrative qualities of animation may sufficiently be considered an extended capacity of sketching. The subject matter for merging these perspectives is supporting exploration of the viability and feasibility of new user experiences with a proposed technology, before functional versions are build. A series of constructive design research experiments has been carried out, applying animation-based sketching in various contexts and at varying points in the design process. In the studies, I evaluate the viability of the approach, the practical integration into the design process, and map how consensus between stakeholders in design can be established through animation -based sketches. Thus, the scope of this project is practice-inclined, towards qualifying animation as an approach for design sketching in practice.